~ Curious Charlie ~

Roti & Kaya Delights! @ Sunday, July 26, 2015

Monday 13th July

A long day as I barely slept last night, I know a memory can't hurt you but I didn't want to close my eyes and see him... A shot doesn't taste better even if you get cream, marshmallows (white ones only) and sprinkles. But it sure works.

Got lost on the way to work, secret hidden entrance in the carpark. Set-up, pack-up, watched the suits on stationery bikes and then watched them build one - Ikea style. Then we went around to fix them.

Looking up Crown...

There are over 4 million light globes
43,000 staff uniforms are cleaned every week
Employees receive complimentary meals, staff restaurant open 24/7
3,500+ employees eat at the Crown’s staff restaurant every day (21,000 per week, 84,000 per month and over 1 million complimentary staff meals per year)

That's pretty cool, Crown is on my top 3 list, I'd like work with a venue or catering company. Met a guy who finished events before me, he says there are no entry level jobs because they're now all 4 day unpaid internships. Exploiting people who need experience. I agree to some degree, the exception is with NFP charities. But if you're up at 5am doing showbags you need to re-evaluate your life. Same goes for setting up weddings. Weddings are 120% profit. It's just free slave labour there.

For lunch we got 10% off as staff. Roasted pumpkin, ricotta and rocket salad with a dressing. It doesn't sound like much, but was so filling! Dinner was also a healthy choice of sushi. Not made just for me, warm from the blow torch though - that's how I like my sushi. Though I prefer not to get sushi from Safeway. Sadly Purple Peanuts was cash only.

From work we went to dancing, it's 11.30 and I'm still up. :P Only micro-napped on the train.

Out of the 300+ people at work I was the one that picked up a box and a staple went into my finger! One that came from a staple gun! I could feel the blood and life flowing out of me! It hurt!

Tuesday

Two meetings, lunch in between, dinner and dessert.

Meeting One - It's amazing how much you lean on the job, as oppose to in class. Class is pure theory and no practice (except for one event). This is great when your client asks you to sit an exam rather than plan an actual event. :P

Meetings over coffee, she had tea and I had hot chocolate, I think I ordered the white one but couldn't taste it. $4.20 made from syrup. No marshmallows as they were out. I asked for cream, but forgot to mention I liked it whipped. As cream for hot chocolate is always whipped isn't it? Service was iffy, they were slow and forgot.

The hot chocolate itself was average. This is what it looked like after a few sips, as interrupting the meeting to take a picture wasn't cool. I tried not to take a picture but couldn't resist.

Lunch was take-away from PappaRich. Whenever possible I prefer to eat in, to have silverware and atmosphere. Also plates, I prefer using plates rather than takeaway containers. Everything also looks better with good light and settings. :P

Roti Canai with Curry Chicken $13-ish

Until last week I've never had roti before, or kaya. Roti looks like naan, but it's not as oily and very soft, less savory bread like and more sweet. The roti was surprisingly sweet! And it was delicious! I could eat this just on its own! Though I had it with the chicken curry, which had about 3 pieces of chicken and a lot of skin... I don't like skin. It was also a bit hot, and while it had lots of spices it wasn't as good as actually getting a curry from an Indian place. I'd get roti again for sure, but not the curry.

Steamed Mantau with Kaya $5-ish

2 pieces of traditional Chinese steamed buns with kaya and butter.

I love kaya! And steamed buns. As we got takeaway we got everything at the same time, so this as dessert was cold/room-temp as oppose to being served warm, ideally. But still it was very good, not as amazing as the kaya roti though. Also why was there slices of butter in the bun? I prefer it if they had melted rather than eating pieces of butter. Kaya is delicious!

Meeting Two - Venue Inspection. Very nice. Would I get married here? Err no. Not unless I use the room as an empty space and all curtains on the walls, chandeliers and all. It'll be even nicer with our lighting set-up.

Dinner at Shanghai Street on Chapel St, opposite San Churro.

Dessert at Lindt.

Freud like my unmarried friends he's constantly broke. And also I have some issues with him, that he knows about.

e.g. When a "Man" Is Left Holding the Bag

Le Beau - "I'll hold it, because she's not going to leave without me". But he always holds my bag without being asked or any hesitation. It does help that my bag is never tiny and pink though, it's always big-very big and black.

Jas - "I'm not your boyfriend." But he'll hold it anyway, but not for extended times. Only when I'm trying to get something out of it or going somewhere and need him to hold it.

Freud - "Place it over there *points to a spot about 4 feet away*" treats it like a suspicious package.

Friday

While I knew I'm not a morning person, lately I haven't been an afternoon person either. I'm a midnight person.

Tonight's plan was to drive 100km (one way) to Geelong for a show and then back. Clearly I have no idea how far it is :P on the train it doesn't seem that far. So that didn't happen, instead we stayed in the city and had dinner and dessert.

I love Greek food, I don't know much about it though, and the only person I know who's Greek is my former (?) SIL, the surgeon. I do know that I love sovas and am always on the hunt for good groupon deals for Greek Restaurants.

Craving souva we went to Jimmy Grant's at the Emporium. I love it, but it's more than I normally spend on a main. For a meal you'll need 2x souvas ($20) + a side or two ($14-ish) costing $35 for dinner making it $$$ on urbanspoon's old money rating, with <$15 = $, <$25 = $$, $25> = $$$. That's for mains, I'm not sure what the new measure means.

Jas had 'Mr Papadopoulos' my first economics lecture. Lamb, mustard, aioli, chips, onions and parsley. $10. No picture as he waited more than an hour for me to get there, and consumed it pretty fast. I have late because I was stuck in bed. Where I've been spending the past few weeks.

In an attempt to try new things I had 'The Patris' with prawns, honey mayo (yum!), cucumber, mint and coriander. It was very yummy but I think the lamb or chicken/lamb combo is better. It's to me more traditional.

Our side was 'Parmesan & Truffles Fries' $6 from Charlie & Co Burgers, which doesn't seem to have a website? This side has been on my list for a while, since Esme recommended it, though not being a burger person it's not high on my list.

The fries were crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside, yes they were very good. I correctly identified the Parmesan, while Jas identified it as jack cheese? And Esme has no idea, as she's not a food person, instead she likes man food, and reviews can be delivered in one sentence. It's good or not and spicy or she'd say something about the flavour.

Would we get them again? No. There's a fish & chip place (Sea Salt) a block away from the apartment and they do great chips too, at $4 and it serves 2-3 people. We can get better/similar chips other places cheaper. Jas knows more about truffles than me and he said he couldn't really taste the presence of it, so that's a second no.

But we'll be back to try more burgers (I had three last time - sliders) and milkshakes for a complete review.

Dessert was open late and conveniently only a couple blocks away, after you find your way out of the maze that is the Emporium. Loving the lift that goes all the way down.

Dex2Rose is our go to ice cream aka gelato place. Why? You can eat in, service is always good, location and changing menus. There's something for everyone, from your picky eater toddler to those who are more adventurous.

Jas works like an adult 9-5 though I don't think is quite an adult yet :P Working much longer hours than me calls for coffee during the evening. I have no idea how Brad (morman's new name) does it, or Hector, work, wife, kids/dancing, they can do it all.

Nitro Brew $8

Cold brewed coffee that’s out of a beer tap. Charged with nitrogen gas, Nitro Brew comes with a creamy head of foam that locks in the wholesome fl avour, and a whole new mouth feel. Jas said the coffee was a bit sweet with honey. Nay or yay? Nay.

Hot Choc w/ home-made marshmallow $5.50

Made with our special in-house blend of Belgian crafted chocolate containing 51% pure cocoa, our lightly spiced hot chocolate is sure to warm you right up

A lightly spiced overall light hot chocolate was one perfectly melt-in-your-mouth marshmallow. Yum! I'd had this before though as a part of the $16 smoking set.

Salty Caramel $6

SALTED CARAMEL gelato mixed with crunchy sugar shards for that perfect blend of taste and texture. Topped with caramel popcorn and nut clusters with our famous small batch salted caramel sauce.

I've had the caramel before and while I liked the gelato I wasn't a fan on the shards of glass embedded within, jas is though. Since I've had it last Jesse has added nuts.

Scarlet Slam $7 - A scarlet slam is what happens when you cross RED VELVET cupcakes with a TIM TAM Slam. Featuring rich chocolate Tim Tams smashed into smooth creamy red velvet gelato, this decadent combination is served with cream cheese frosting. *OBLIGATORY RICH CHOCOLATE WARNING* Contains caffeine.

I love Tim Tams! In fact I have about 7 packs in the pantry :P (It was on sale.) Lola had this one last time and she liked it, so do I! Yum! Needs a bit more cream cheese, but other than that I'd recommend this one and get it again.

While we were invited to review Dex2Rose we have been back many times, and shall be back again, for the Strawberry Cheesecake & Pandan next time.

Saturday

I can barely what happened on Saturday, as the day was going well until I had a panic attack. I recall vaguely running, and I didn't stop till I got back to the office, this was from Melb Central to Flinders, it wasn't that close.

So instead of memories, Saturday is recounted from the pictures I took. We went shopping, had a cupcake, cendol (green coconut drink with pandan-like jelly), and dinner on the way home from Mantra Lounge. Vegan Curry w Rice & Salad. Healthy but still good. Also had chatime and obtained a red balloon along the way.

Cupcake!

Finding Neverland - Loved it! Though perhaps not the ending...

At some point we watched most of the panels from Comic Con! I've very excited about OUAT and Agent Carter! Evil Emma I don't like her look, the diamonds are pretty. That is what the heart turns into right?